Evading Away
by CloudXStrife
Summary: Their bond was everlasting, until a episode altered everything in their lives. With time keeping them apart, had they moved on with their own lives?
1. You there, I'm here

**Disclaimer-**** I own absolutely nothing, if I did Rinoa wouldn't end up with Squall.**

**A/N-**** I have always wanted to write a Final Fantasy Fic, and once I was done playing FFVIII I couldn't help but notice Quistis and Squall. I wrote this for a couple reasons. **

**First being that the plot was working its way around my head and wouldn't leave me alone until I put pen to paper. Second being that I wanted to see if this community was still alive. And Last being that I wanted to see if I was the only Quistis/Squall fan.**

**Also there is a lot of point of view changes. But that'll only last a few chapters. Flashbacks are in Italics.**

**So without further ado here is Evading Away!**

**Read and Enjoy.**

* * *

**Over Time.**

"_I can't believe you." She whispers shakily._

"_No, you don't understand, please-"He gently moves towards her, but is cut off by her tear stricken voice._

"_Don't come near me." She mummers angrily, taking several pained steps away._

_He stops, letting her inch away from him "Just listen-"_

"_No! I don't need to listen your bullshit." She says, voice quivering "I saw you. I saw you with her" She stops for a moment, before she painfully continues "in your dorm room, in your bed." _

_With an uncharacteristic look of desperation in his gray eyes, he quickly moves pass several retired dorm rooms and latches onto her trembling shoulders._

"_Don't do that." He speaks softly, referring to the tears freely flowing down her pink cheeks. His heart thumped rigorously against his pressured ribs. His heart clenched even more so when he realized those tears of pain and sorrow was because of him._

"_Look... what you saw in there... wasn't what it looked like." _

_Her eyes, which had been downcast at their feet suddenly whipped up to meet his tortured ones. He inwardly cringed as he saw her vivid blue eyes shimmering with fresh unshed tears. He cringed even more so when he detects rage and disbelief hidden behind her blue orbs._

"_No. Don't you lie to me. Don't you dare!" She had now ripped his hands off and put a considerable amount of icy distance between them. "What am I suppose to think then?" he barely hears her whisper with a hint of hope laced cleverly within her words. He knows she's willing him to explain, to say something that could instantly cure this horrendous situation._

_But he stiffens, how was he supposed to explain this? He never spoke more than when it was necessary. Words had never come easy to him, and he was okay with that. Until now when he was this close to losing his girlfriend, losing his love, losing her. He racks his brain but it seems that it left him high and dry shutting down completely. He opens his mouth, willing himself to say something, anything. Yet no words came out, not even a squeak or a noise. _

_He stands there, in the middle of the dormitory hallways, opening and closing his mouth, gaping like a fish out of water._

_He sighs, giving up on words, hoping his actions will speak for him, he attempts to take a step closer to her, but he freezes mid-step with the next words out of her mouth._

"_No." She speaks softly, wringing her hands around one another until her knuckles turn ghost white. With apprehension she whispers her next words fearfully. _

"_It's over."_

_He stood and he stood. Rooted to his position by an unseen force. His eyes darken and the expression on his pained face toughens. He clenches his jaw until he thought it might break from the sustained pressure. "So, this is it." He forces out._

_She hesitantly nods, willing herself to hold together until she can at least get back to the safe confides of her room. She swallows thickly "Yes, it is." with that she turns on her heel and hurtfully heads towards the elevators._

_He watches her tear stained face get lost as the steel doors of the elevator slide close. The echo of the sliding door lingers in the halls, it lingers longer in his head as he realizes that that was the last time he was ever going to see her again. Yet it seemed to resound in his heart as Squall realizes he let Quistis Trepe slip away from him._

-----

Quistis jolted awake, the soft mattress beneath her slightly bouncing until it came to a complete rest. She breathes heavily and runs her hands through her mussed blonde locks. This was getting utterly ridiculous. That was the fourth dream she's had about _him.... _nightmare. It wasn't a dream, it was a horrid nightmare. Any memories of _him_, was complete pain that tears through her newly repaired heart.

She feels a familiar pair of arms encircle her slender waist, and she instantly relaxes, forgetting about _him_. At least for the moment. She could never forget that man; he _was_ too much of a big part in her life. That was all past tense now. At the moment he was insignificant.

"You okay honey?" an everyday voice asks her.

Quistis lets a smile grace her beautiful features, as he places a light kiss over her neck. "Yeah. Everything's fine. Just...a bad dream." She honestly told him.

He stifles a yawn and instead lets a worried frown appear on his rested face. "Are you sure?" At her questioning look, he elaborates. "You've been having these 'bad dreams' a lot lately."

Her blue eyes soften at his concern. "I'm fine really." She says reassuringly. His frown doesn't disappear but he reluctantly nods his head as she grips his hand and gives a relieving squeeze.

They slowly slide back under their now cold bed sheets, conversing about the day to come.

This is how she knows that her life is with Seymour Sanders; her fiancé. The concern he often shows, the affection he constantly displays is enough to make any girl swoon over him. They fitted well together, like a missing piece in a puzzle. With Squall, it was never like this. Their bodies never meshed together like hers and Seymour. Theirs instead meshed like two puzzle pieces that clearly didn't go together.

She was surprised out of her thought when Seymour whispers to her. "I'm going to go hop in the shower." He untangles theirs legs and presses a quick kiss to her forehead before he leaves his side of the bed, stretches and disappears into the bathroom.

Quistis snuggles deeper into the king size bed and sighs, inhaling his sweet scent. His scent always had a way of calming her.

Her mind starts to drift away from reality and towards _him._ She couldn't help but wonder where he had gone. It had been four years since that fateful day. Four years since she has seen him. She scoffed, not that she ever wanted to see his face again; still she wondered where it all went wrong. What exactly was the objective of the mission? What had happened on that mission?

Before she could ponder anymore on the uncomfortable memory, running water was heard and much to her amusement, a pair of boxers floated through the air and onto her blonde head. Seymour pokes his head out from the bathroom, water dripping from his blonde hair onto the laminated floors and he raises an eyebrow.

"You coming?"

She feels a grin creeping its way onto her face. She removes the offending piece of garment off her head before pulling the satin covers off her body and quickly moves toward him.

Her smile falters the tiniest bit, and her pace slows just a tad as the one question that has been haunting her since he left squirms back into her head.

_What happened on that mission that got you killed?_

-----

_Slice_ A gruesome harmony threw him back into his current dangerous reality. If that wasn't enough, the thick red liquid streaming down his arm and onto his forearm was. Shaking his head back and forth, the brunette tightens his grip on the handle of his gunblade. Proceeding swiftly and with a sense of urgency, he moves towards the threat, a massive piece of intelligent machinery that had been trying to behead, blow up, and crush himself and his party.

As he is easily dismantling the machinery, he wonders since when did the world get so advanced. This week, it was a killing machine, the size of a house. Last week it had been human sized robots blowing up anything in its path.

He dodges just in time as a blade was just about to make him legless. He takes one last swing with his gunblade, pulling the trigger with the intent to finish it off. As he expected the target explodes leaving it a large pile of useless metal. Landing back on his feet, he staggers, and grimaces a little as he feels the deep cut on his bicep taking full on effects.

Taking a calm look around, he notices that the rest of the party had held up on their parts. Sighing, he takes a moment to inspect his wound. As he begins to remove his red tainted jacket, the earth beneath him starts to rumble.

Furrowing his brows, he takes a cautious look behind him. His stomach lurches as he spots a couple dozen killing machines racing their ways towards the steep dirt hill that had become their battlefield.

"Retreat!" He hollered, causing his soldiers to look up at his form at the top of the hill. Even with the status of Commander, he knew from previous missions that it was suicide if they decided to fend off the growing number of enemies.

The remaining soldiers did not have to be told twice. They bolted from their stationary positions, stumbling on their way down the side of the steep hill. He soon followed, cursing under his breath as he frolics over the garbage their enemies had become.

He picks up his pace as the ferry starts proceeding away from the docks. He barely hears his heavy boots trudge along the old wooden boards of the docks, but he does hear the threat destroying the dock with every massive step it takes towards him. _Almost there_ he thought _Just a little bit more..._ He takes a swift look behind him, and his gray orbs widen as the machine locks onto him and attempts to crush him.

He turns his head back forward and while still galloping, closes his eyes, waiting for his life to disintegrate with a crushing blow. But instead of the pain he expects, he hears sudden gunshots. Gunshots that are rapidly firing. He bursts his eyes open just in time to hurdle onto the main deck of the ferry, seemingly escaping death.

Breathing ferociously, he struggles to stand up only to slump back onto the boat's custom built maple wood floor. Clapping his eyes shut he greedily takes oxygen into his constricting lungs.

This was exactly what he felt like when she broke things off. He felt as if he couldn't breathe. Felt as if the world around him was tumbling into oblivion. It was a feeling he absolutely dreaded, especially since he caused it upon himself.

Feeling that he got enough oxygen, and that the world would stop spinning, he raises his eyelids and takes notice of smoke waving through the air and ascending before disappearing from sight. His tired eyes pursue the waves of smoke until they reach a gun; specifically a standard issued Gatling gun.

A frown appears on his dirt smudged face as recollections of her saving him on his SeeD exam resurface.

He dove over the two flights of stairs, knowing that the X-ATM092 was close behind. He scrambled towards the awaiting submarine, desperately picking up his pace as the mechanical spider howls back to life. His legs burnt with every heavy step he took on the bear terrain, as did his lungs, but he kept his pace, silently hoping it would be enough for survival. It gains on him in less than two colossal steps, and right when he spots its shadow over covering the scorching sun, he hopes to hyne that it'll be a swift and painless death. But he catches an array of golden hair and an explosion behind him rings his ears, his feet get soaked from skidding across the water as he scarcely lunges into the open door. He gathers himself and meets his saviour in the cockpit. She simply shrugged and gave a light smile at him before turning her attention to steering them out of the chaos.

He vividly remembered this because it was the beginning of it. He never did thank her, and she never asked to be praised for her deed.

He lays there for awhile, letting the toasty sun beat onto his sprawled out form. A shadow overtakes the sun's rays and he squints up at the person disturbing his apparent suntan.

The cadet looks sheepishly down at him "Commander Leonhart?"

He props his head up slightly to look up at the young kid "Yeah?"

The young cadet looked startled when he hears his voice. He points down to something beside him. Squall squints in confused before the cadet speaks. "You're bleeding." He said bluntly.

The brunette immediately sits up and grimaces when he sees a large pool of crimson red on the ferry's floor trickling down in several streams trailing off the side of the large vessel.

He takes a look under his issued commander uniform and inwardly cringes as the wound on his bicep continued to release more vital fluids.

"You should probably go see the doctor." He stated obviously.

Squall sighs and stands up, feeling a bit drowsy as he makes his way inside the cabin. The brunette gets into a slight jog as he hears an outraged voice asking about the bloody mess.

-----

"Time's up!" Quistis Trepe announces as she stands up at the front of the spacious classroom. "Please come hand in your exams to me and you may leave for an early lunch."

Her senior students cheered, happy to have five extra minutes for feasting. After each student handed their sheets of paper to her, and thanking them, Quistis herself followed suite, leaving for a much deserved lunch.

She brushes off her uniform for any dirt or grim before stepping out of her classroom, and sliding her card key into the slot, successfully locking it. Quistis grins a little at the thought of spending lunch with the 'heroic group' that defeated the evil sorceress, Ultimecia. That's what they were called even after five years had passed since that fateful battle. But since Squall had...left, it was occasional that they were called that. Quistis understood though. Squall had led them into battle and into incomparable victory. If he wasn't there then there wouldn't be a 'heroic group.' Heck, there wouldn't even be a world.

The entire Garden had taken the news badly...especially her...

-----

_It had been a month since they had called things off and there she was curled up in her dorm room trying to keep busy with grading papers. She despised him she decided. The very next day of breaking their relationship off, he had left on an A rank mission, smart-wittily keeping his mind on the malignant mission rather than on the horrible events that occurred. While she was here, going over essays for the umpteenth time, trying to keep her mind from reeling. _

_At night though it was an entirely different story, nothing was there to distract her. Distract her from him. His memories, his face, everything came rushing back to her and she would lie there tossing and turning, willing herself to keep the tears at bay. _

_By the month and a half mark, the group began to worry, wondering where their beloved commander was._

"_He's probably just show boating with that fancy gunblade of his." Zell had answered one day._

_They were all seated in the cafeteria, eating their respective lunches, including a dozen hot dogs for Zell._

"_Yeah, that's probably it. I knew he was a goof deep down." Selphie tried to confirm it to herself as well to the others._

_But no one believed it. Deep down they sensed something wasn't right. But they willed their emotions away, trying to be strong for one another._

_By two months, the Garden students began to take notice of the prolonged disappearance of the Commander. Quistis at the time was teaching a class when the Cid made his voice known throughout the military school._

"_All students, instructors, SeeDs, and any remaining persons please report to the large auditorium."_

_She at the time was completely confused; they never had an assembly during times of instructing. Anyhow she led her class to the auditorium as directed and was surprised to see the entire school squeezed into the room. She became anxious as Cid held a solemn look on his face. _

"_You all are aware of the absence of Commander Leonhart." There were curious whispers in the large crowd of students as well as in the group of adults._

"_We are sorry to inform you that we have lost our commander, Squall Leonhart." He said with sadness._

_There were many gasps and loud roars of 'what happened' or 'where'd he go?' _

_Cid, overwhelmed by the reaction of the school, held up a hand signalling the students to stop their outburst._

"_We are aware that you are all deeply saddened by this major loss, Squall was-"_

_There was more, much more, but Quistis tuned everything out. The moment the details of his death were exposed, her heart had also died. Even with how they left things, she would never wish death upon him. She loved him for Hyne's sake! She felt as if her heart was wrenched right out of her chest and thrown on the ground beating furiously in front of her. _

_She struggled to hold back her tears. She couldn't break down in front of everyone. No one had even known they were together. _

_She stood numbly at the back of the auditorium, until everyone was dismissed. Classes, exams, everything was cancelled for the day to mourn for the fallen hero. Quistis had mourned longer than anyone, going straight to her dorm room and breaking down. She had kept a strong facade, never shedding a single tear for him since the day he left for the death trap of a mission. But now that she knew she would never see him again, she let her tears of sorrow flow freely. _

_She didn't leave her room for more than necessary. Although she still left to teach her students, she didn't do anything else. She just wanted to be left alone. _

_Because that's how she felt. Alone. _

-----

"Thinking about me?"

She quickly spins on her heel and sees Seymour flashing his glistening white teeth at her. She laughs giving him a loving peck on the lips.

"Of course." She says stroking his ego.

He grabs a hold of one petite hand, intertwining their fingers before casually walking towards the elevator. "I don't blame you, I would be thinking of me too after this morning." He says slyly, putting on a mock thoughtful face.

Quistis instantly reddens at the heated activities they engaged in, earlier that morning. It had made her late for her first class, and him late for his council meeting, not very professional with her being Head Instructor and him being Commander.

She recovers, giving him a playful smack on his navy blue clad chest. Stepping into the elevator and pushing the correct button that would drop them off in the cafeteria, Quistis furrows her blonde brows when she overhears Cid's voice at the other end of the hallway. He was walking out of the various conference rooms Balamb Garden had, with a hustling Xu beside him.

"Okay Good. Bring him back home." The headmaster says with joy in his voice.

Before she could overhear any more of their particularly intriguing conversation, the elevator doors slide to a close. Bring who home? It must've been someone Cid was close with, explaining the joy in his voice. Before she could ponder anymore on the thought, her surroundings rumble and a slight creak is heard before the thick metal doors slide open.

With their hands still entwined, Seymour leads her to the cafeteria where she spots Zell, Irvine, and Selphie.

"I'll meet you there." Seymour says as he releases their joint hands and makes his way to gather his and Quistis' lunches.

The instructor makes her way pass the crowded cafeteria, stopping a food fight between two boys along the way.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" She hears Zell's voice as she nears their table.

"Bring it on!" Irvine responds, tipping his cowboy hat to the side, and giving him a competitive grin.

She takes a seat beside Zell and turns to look at Selphie sitting in front of her. "What's going on?" She questions, puzzled.

Selphie looks up from the stopwatch in her hand. "Hot dog competition!" She squeals.

Quistis smiles as she looks over at the cowboy and the blonde SeeDs staring each other down, a pile of hotdogs wrapped in buns between them.

She turns her attention to Seymour as he slides a tray of food in front of her, along with himself into the vacant seat beside her. "Thanks hon." she says as she begins to eat.

"Hey Sanders, You want in?" Zell said gesturing towards the large pile of hotdogs

He gave a slight shake of the head, showing he wanted no part in their childish competition.

It was funny she thought. When they first met Seymour, they absolutely loathed the man. It wasn't like he had done any wrongs to them, but when they heard that he was named new SeeD commander, only after a few weeks of Squall disappearance, the group took an understandable disdain with the man.

Gradually with time though, the group began to warm up to him. He proved he deserved the elite position with his superior skills with his spears and his strong leadership qualities over the cadets. By the time the group had fully accepted him, they began to call him by his last name; Sanders due to his insistence. His reasoning was that Seymour made him sound old, which was not obviously the case.

Rinoa makes her presence known as she slides into the empty seat beside Selphie, who was carefully watching the stop watch in her hand.

The dark raven haired girl takes a moment to get comfortable on the hard lunch table before she speaks up.

"You guys wouldn't believe what I heard." She pauses for a second making sure she got everyone's attention.

At their questioning looks, she continues. "I overheard Cid talking about bringing-"

Her sentence is abruptly cut off by loud, choking sounds, and bits of hotdogs flying into her face.

"Zell, you win!" Selphie's voice is directed at the choking young man. "And you broke your old record!"

The other blonde stands up from where's she sitting and hurriedly makes her way behind Zell, giving him several hard smacks on the back.

"You okay?" she asks him. He nods. Satisfied that he was no longer gagging, she sits back down and continues to eat her lunch as if nothing out of the ordinary happened and in this case there wasn't.

It takes a minute, but he groans out audibly. "Did you have to smack me that hard?" he pouts at his former instructor.

She swallows the rest of the food in her mouth before answering. "Next time you won't swallow a dozen hotdogs in two minutes." She shrugs.

"Actually it was a minute and forty-one seconds." Selphie interferes

Quistis rolls her eyes and tunes back to Rinoa as she picks up where she left off.

"What was I going to say before I was so rudely interrupted" She wipes off the rest of the chucks spitted onto her as she stares squarely at Zell, who sheepishly looks away.

"Anyways I overheard Cid saying-"Once again she gets cut off as someone begins to struggle for air.

The group looks over at Zell, who continued his hotdog fest, but at a much calmer rate. They look at each other confused until Irvine begins to thrash around, pounding furiously on his chest.

The group begins to laugh, as Quistis makes her way towards Irvine, an amused smile on her face.

-----

"You're quite lucky, you know." The doctor tells him as she's wrapping his arm tightly with bandages. "A few more minutes and you would have passed out from blood loss."

When Squall doesn't respond, she presses further.

"What were you doing anyways that caused you to ignore this injury?" She looks at him expectantly.

The re-established lone wolf looks up, but once again does not respond.

The doctor sighs, and doesn't press any further. She wondered if he's always been this cold and non-responsive. He's had this bitter demeanour towards anyone and everyone. For the entire four years she's worked with him, he hasn't said anything out of a mission's context. When spoken to about anything non-related, he would give a blank look and no response at all.

She ties a quick knot on the bandage and gives the elite soldier a quick nod, signalling that she was done.

Squall takes the gesture as a sign to leave and he gathers his red tainted jacket and makes a quiet exit. He changes into his regular plain white T-shirt before he drops off his suit to be cleaned.

The brunette runs a hand through his brown locks as he opens the door to his room. Sprawling out on top of the neatly made bed, he flips over, gazing at nothing in particular. He desires to sleep, to take a much needed rest, but he doesn't because sleep never came peacefully to him.

Nowadays Squall doesn't sleep for days at a time. It never occurs to him what causes his insomnia that recently has been plaguing him for the last couple of years. When he does sleep though, from exhaustion of weeks of no sleep and extremely rough missions, he is haunted by a blue eyed blonde_._ He opts to stay awake then have painful memories of his mistakes visiting him every night.

So as he fights a losing battle, he feels relief run through his worn body, and deteriorating mind when an announcement is heard through the room.

"_Commander Leonhart, please report to the main floor conference room."_

He makes his way to the small restroom. Attempting to make himself look presentable, he splashes cool water onto his face. As Squall is drying his drenched face, he glances at the reflection in the mirror that is shown.

He wore a deep frown that seemed to exist there since he was born. His chestnut hair, full of dirt and grime had grown over the years. His face looked too much older than he actually was. Around his eyes were puffy, darkened bags, giving the impression that he hadn't had a good night's rest in years. But the man's eyes in the reflection looked nothing like it used to be. Usually a bright greyish blue looked a gloomy, murky gray. It looked almost as if he shouldn't even have had pupils because the eyes staring back at him looked...dead.

The young commander throws the used towel carelessly back into the sink, making a path towards his destination.

He nonchalantly takes a seat at the side of the large conference table, bouncing his leg up and down impatiently. As he begins to lose his last ounce of patience, the large leather clad door opens up.

"Commander Leonhart." President Winston says with a slight grin.

Squall poises upright from his seat and shakes the offered hand. "Mr. President."

He motions for Squall to return to his original sitting position before he himself takes a seat across from him.

"Is there something on your mind, son?" Squall looks away from the clock hanging loosely on the wall and to the white haired man in front of him. At his confused expression, Winston continues, "I got several reports that you were caught daydreaming during battle."

Squall sighs, even when he was on a completely different continent, she seem to always creep into his mind. "No sir." Winston raises his thick white brows at the short answer. "Just...thinking of something at the time. No need worry." He explains hoping that he wouldn't question on the current subject any further.

He studies the young commander's battered form, and his fatigued face. "You're right. I don't have to worry about you going into battles anymore."

Squall arches a brow. "Why's that?"

He gets up from his seat, striding towards a rectangular window panel to take a view at the deep blue that surrounded them. "Because you're going home." He answers, offering him a small smile.

Squall's eyes widen and before he could take a moment to calm down, he panics. "What? Why? I told you it won't happen again, it was a slight mistake." He desperately pleads his case.

President Winston's grin was completely wiped off his face, and a frown took its place. He wonders how bad Balamb Garden can be. He was utterly baffled at the man's reaction to what he thought was good news.

"You're not being sent home because of that Commander." He calmly states. The brunette's face goes from panicked to confuse. Winston clarifies. "You're going home because your job is done here. "

Squall silently sat dumbfounded. "Are you sure?" he asks weakly.

"Yes, I'm sure. You were to be here for up to four years." He explains the SeeD contract that was made too long ago. "And I'm afraid" he continues "that we have to let you go back to your own life."

Squall Leonhart didn't know whether to be ecstatic or fearful. Ecstatic that he could finally have a place to call home, friends to see after a lengthy departure and as much as he liked being on missions, four years was enough to keep him at bay. Fearful because he wouldn't know how they would react to him actually being alive. The mission was too substantial that any details about his whereabouts could expose and possibly put President Winston in danger, therefore his death had to be plotted to ward off any threatening enemies. But then again...he was petrified that he would be seeing her again.

A pair of wrinkled fingers snapping together shook him out of his thoughts. Squall glances at the man he's been protecting for the last four years.

"You should probably pack your things up; we'll drop you off at Balamb on our back." He insists.

Squall nods, but stays stationary on his seat.

Winston takes a look at the man. He looked depressed, almost like he didn't want to go back. "It doesn't look like you're happy about this." He proclaims boldly.

Squall gazes up with a faraway look in his eyes, trying to force a weak smile, and any signs of happiness on his face as he shakes his head.

_You have no idea._

* * *

**How was it? Should I continue it? **

**Don't forget to review!**


	2. An Overdue Homecoming

**A/N- If it weren't for my exams and my internet being down, I would have gotten this out sooner. I am currently working on the next chapter and hopefully it will be out sometime next week.**

**2 Reviews! Yay. I actually didn't expect that much since this is a old community. But it only take 1 review to keep me going. **

**So here is Chapter 2**

* * *

**An Overdue Homecoming.**

"...How much longer?"

The much older man rolled his eyes. For the last hour Squall had decided that the lone wolf image wasn't going to work if he wanted to keep asking how far they were from Balamb.

Sighing he answered. "10 minutes."

They were in the control room, Squall leaning against a pillar erected in the middle of the room, trying to appear calm, cool, and collected; Although Winston had the suspicion that the man was edgy, irritable, and nervous. Squall kept a cool cold look on his face like always, but on the inside he was scared stiff. Although there were more pros than cons, Seeing Quistis again completely outweighed them.

_What am I scared of? _He scolded himself _it's just Quistis, we'll pretend nothing ever happened between the two of us, and we'll go back to having a working relationship. _He slightly brightensat his revelation. He'd just ignore the history of their year long relationship, and make sure no personal feelings get in the way. Not that he had any lingering affection for her... right?

Right. Of course he didn't.

"Approaching Balamb town harbour, Sir!" A ship mate announced.

Winston glances out a window and takes a minute overlooking the town of Balamb. The town was peaceful, even looking at it from afar he could sense a glow of serenity surrounding the relatively small town. He glances at the water climbing up the side of the harbour before it plummets back into the lake, once again becoming one with the larger body of liquid.

He shakes himself from his amazed awe at the puny, but magnificent town, and makes his way towards the lone soldier. It was time for a farewell.

"So I guess this is it." He says at the young man.

Squall nods, his chestnut locks shifting with the slight movement. "Yeah."

They stay in comfortable silence, both gazing out at the approaching land of civilization. "Quite a town you have here." Winston comments absently.

The brunette stares out, his eyes showing nothing. "I guess."

They fall back into silence, their feet vibrating as the engine slows down to a complete stop. Winston turns to look at the commander.

"You'd done well." A nod was his response. "Really, over the past four years you have been nothing loyal to your duty of protecting me." He pauses for a moment, sneaking a look to see if he got any reaction. "Balamb Garden is lucky to have you as a commander."

Squall was taken by surprise at the compliments directed at him. "Thank you, Sir, Just doing my job."

"Yes well four years is a long time to be away from home for just doing a job."

Home. It hadn't really hit him until now that he was back to the place where everything had started. The place where he was deemed a hero for defeating Ultimecia. The place where he learned how to open up and let people in. The place where he felt like he had belonged. The place where he had found love the first time and a second time. Home.

"Too long..." He says more to himself.

If the old man heard him, he decided not to comment. "Tell Cid, I'll fax him the mission report." Squall gives a curt nod and shifts his duffle bag on his shoulder, before he extends his hand in a formal goodbye.

President Winston smiles at the gesture, taking his hand in his before placing a firm grip and shaking.

The brunette begins his walk out the door, when the gruffly voice is heard once again.

"Squall" The man says his first name for the first time since they met four years ago.

The man turns, giving him his attention.

"Home is a shelter for all kinds of storms..." He says a distant look in his green orbs. "...even if there are storms within the home itself."

Squall stands motionless for a moment, closing his eyes, and letting the words sink deep into his soul. Maybe...just maybe he understood Squall and for that Squall respected him. Not many people attempted to peel away the protective layers back.

For the first time in nearly half a decade, Squall gave a smile. Not a slight grin, but a lips twisting-upward kind of smile.

"Thank you." He says softly

And he knows he means it because for the first time he sees a smile on the tormented young man's face, and instead of hearing a cold voice, he hears the softness within his voice, that's been concealed behind the bitterness.

He smiles as he sees the young man makes his leave and once out of the ferry takes his surroundings in like it was the first time he's been outside.

Squall trudges slowly, giving a slight wave at the departing ferry. He breathes in the familiar atmosphere, relishing in the relaxing tranquility it gave him.

He takes a seat on a nearby bench, dropping his duffle bag beside him, and loosening the blue collar of his uniform. Facing the blue depths and gazing out towards the sea, he lets his entire body slump against the worn out wood.

He was 18 when he left. Four years later and he's 22. He was still young, yet he felt like a war veteran. The term fit him. He all but protected the president of Timur from every threat perceived against him. He had his doubts when he was told he was going back. But now he felt relieved. Relieved that he could finally stop fighting and go back _home._

He looks up at the gigantic orange orb in the clear sky. _Too early _He thought. That was his excuse. It was too early in the morning, students were probably still in class, and he wouldn't dare disturb any classes with the amount of strict instructors at Balamb.

_Or maybe you're just finding any reason to avoid the inevitable._

He shook that thought out of his head, deciding that he would get reacquainted with the town until he was good and ready to go back.

Sighing, he stands up and tosses his duffle bag over a shoulder and with slight peace of mind, aimlessly wanders around Balamb.

-----

"I don't know." Selphie murmured. "I still think the second one was good."

"That ugly thing? You might as well wear a garbage bag." Rinoa huffed.

The 22 year old blonde sighed for the umpteenth time in the last two hours. They were sitting in the deserted cafeteria, flipping through half a dozen wedding magazines, trying to decide on a wedding dress for her upcoming day.

"When is it again Quisty?" Selphie asked.

"A little over 2 months from now." Quistis sighed, closing the latest magazine.

"Wow. I still can't believe that our Quisty is getting married!" Rinoa teased.

She couldn't imagine getting married to anyone else but Seymour. He was her saviour after everything she had endured.

She smiled, as she remembered the first time they met.

-----

"_Are you sure everything is alright Quisty?" Rinoa softly asked her._

_She nodded, pushing away the tray of food, deciding that she didn't feel like eating her lunch anymore._

_It had only been a month since Squall was pronounced dead and Rinoa was extremely worried about the group, especially for the newly re-instated instructor. She looked paler than she usually did. Her eyes had dark rings around them, obviously showing that she was not sleeping. The blonde seem to forget how to laugh, even her radiant smile was virtually non-existent these days. Her desire to be alone was strong. It had taken her half an hour to coax her out of her classroom to come have lunch with her friends._

"_I'm going to go finish up on some papers I need to mark." The blonde stated._

_Rinoa hesitated for a moment, before sighing and nodding._

_The blonde headed out of the cafeteria, but didn't go back to the classroom. Instead she found herself sitting at the side of the crystal like fountain._

_Placing her blue clad elbows on her bare knees, she leaned out and stared out into nothingness._

_It was still difficult to believe that he was gone. Actually gone. Sure, he had gone on missions, but he had always come back to her. Always. It tore at her heart to let him leave with the way they left things. She had to deal with the aftermath of his death alone. No matter what anyone tried to say, nothing helped. Nothing would help ease the guilt she felt for the terrible things she had last said to him._

_All she could think about was never running her hair through his surprisingly soft hair, or how she would never see the rare smiles he only gave to her. She missed him, she concluded. Everything about him she would miss. _

"_Are you okay?" A voice erupted her lonely thoughts._

_She tore her eyes away for the muddy floors, and in front of her stood a handsome tall blonde man, looking like he did not at all fit in with the Garden. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she snapped, annoyed at the disturbance._

_The mysterious man shrugged his broad shoulders, and flashed a white smile. "I don't know. When I see a pretty girl sitting by herself and wallowing I assume she's not okay."_

_She stared at the blonde, angered by the fact that he thought he could read her. "Well you're wrong because I'm perfectly fine. So you can get lost." She said venomously._

_The man looked taken aback at her angered outburst. "Look I didn't mean to intrude..." He trailed off, not wanting to get slap if he uttered something that would blow the top off of the girl._

_Quistis sighed, knowing that she had no right to take out her pain and anger on a stranger. "It's okay." She says, cutting him off._

_Yet the man still didn't leave. Instead he took it as an invitation to take a cautious seat beside the sorrow filled blonde. "You know it's not healthy to keep things bottled up." _

_The instructor snorted. "What are you? A therapist?" She sarcastically questions._

_The man grinned a little. "No, but I-"He is abruptly cut off as he tries to lean back on his hands, oblivious that he was sitting on the side of a fountain and that there was water behind him instead of a solid surface._

_Water splashes up and Quistis immediately moves from her spot, trying to avoid getting drenched. _

_He hears a couple chuckles and giggles from passing students that witness the embarrassing incident, and unexpectedly, the pretty blonde lets out a laugh of her own. He finds it weird how her laughter seems to stand out from the rest. _

_She offers him a gloved hand. He takes it as water is dripped of his ruined suit and back into the fountain as he steps out. _

"_Thanks" he mumbles, obviously still embarrassed at the accident. _

"_No problem." She offers._

_He shifts, uncomfortable with the added weight from the water. He looks up to see her with a slight grin._

"_Did I just see a smile on the ice goddess?" He teases._

_As much as she tries to stop it, her slight grin turns into a full grin. "Shut it, before I shove you back in there."_

_He laughs at her threat, before his eyes wander to the clock. His eyes widen as he realizes he was late. _

_He was here to get the role as commander and walking in late drenched head to toe was not exactly the best impression. _

"_I should probably go." He motions to the clock, before he turns away._

_He stops for a second and turns back around to face the mysterious women. "Hey," She looks up at him. "Like I said before, it's not healthy to keep things in." He stops, feeling uncomfortable with his next words. "But I'm here if you ever want to talk." He finishes._

_With that he walks off. Cringing with every squeak his soaked boots made. _

_As he is boarding the elevator, he doesn't notice the odd looks he was receiving; instead he sees a smile on the blonde women's pretty features._

_-----_

Quistis would be forever grateful for the way he had picked her back up.

Of course they didn't exactly get along right from the start; but she had taken him up on his offer and began talking to him. She talked about everything and anything...except Squall. She would only get choked up when she would start to talk about him. To this day Seymour had no idea of her history with Squall, heck he doesn't even know a Squall existed. Even the group didn't mention Squall because of the uncomfortable subject of him. Gradually talking turned into dates, dates turned into a relationship, and a relationship turned into an engagement. All in the span of four years.

"Quisty, how about this one?" Selphie reached across the table and threw the magazine down in front of the blonde.

The blonde readjusted her glasses and she almost gasped at the sight of the absolutely _gorgeous _dress. The silhouette of the sleeveless white dress was a ball gown style, a fitted bodice and a waistline leading to a very full skirt, the train of the dress was a royal style, 4 feet long of sparkling white.

"This is the one." She barely whispered.

The raven haired girl and the happy-go-lucky brunette breathed out a long breath, happy to be done with the tedious process of picking a wedding dress.

"Let's go celebrate!" The short haired girl squealed.

The two other women looked at her.

"Aww come on guys, I spent my entire free spare sitting on my butt reading wedding magazines." She wrinkled her nose at the cause of her boredom. "Let's go out for drinks!" She seemed so excited, Quistis _almost_ couldn't deny her.

"I don't really know..." Quistis said as she began to pack up the magazines, before getting up.

Selphie and Rinoa follow right behind her heels. "Don't be such a party pooper Quisty!" Selphie all but screams.

"Yeah, I guess this would be pretty fun..." Rinoa quirks an eyebrow at the overly excited girl.

The strict instructor shakes her head "Thanks but no thanks."

Selphie pouts "Why not Quistis? It's just going to be a day of relaxation. There shouldn't be a reason not to go...unless..." The shorter girl stops mid-step and her eyes widen as if she realized something.

Pushing her hair out of her glasses, Quistis raises an eyebrow. "Unless what?" she inquires.

Selphie moves her eyes toward the blonde and slowly points an accusing finger at her. "...unless you're... pregnant!" She squeals happily.

Quistis drops her magazines. "What! No I'm-"

"That explains why you don't want to go!" She once again raises another accusing finger at the startled blonde.

She swats the offending finger away. "Selphie, that's just ridiculous, I'm not-"She once again gets cut off.

The brunette leans on the tips of her toes and back to the heels. "Then prove you're not, come with us." She says with a sly smile. "Or else..."

Quistis openly gapes at the cunning girl. _She wouldn't spread such a false lie would she?_ She courseshe would. This was Selphie Tilmitt, the biggest gossip in the entire garden. She even placed a single day of the week as her gossip day, whereas she would go around the garden trying to gather any dirty information.

Quistis knew she was defeated. Selphie had outsmarted her. "Fine..." she hesitantly agrees.

Her eyes light up as she won. "Great! We'll go later after you're done with your classes!" With that she happily skips off, dragging the frighten looking Rinoa along.

Quistis lets an amused expression grace her face as she bends down to pick up the fallen recreational reading material, making her way to her awaiting class.

-----

It was early evening, the sun starting to set, when he decided it was time to head back.

He wasn't sure what kept him so long from heading there straight away, but the point was that he was heading back...eventually. He stares down at the mug of lukewarm coffee in his hands, noticing how the dark liquid made a slight ripple whenever someone walked across the diner.

He turns his gaze out the tinted window of the diner, watching as couples strolled along the boardwalk towards the beach as if nothing in the world was wrong. He adverts his gaze away. Those things were not what he needed to look at, especially when they brought back memories. Memories that he knows he will never be able to re-live again.

A hand waving in front of his face brought him back to his surroundings. "Refill Hun?" the waitress who looked to be mid twenties asked him.

He nodded absently, gently pushing his now empty mug towards her. She poured the steaming beverage into the mug, flashed him a flirtatious smile, and walked away, deliberately swaying her hips in a futile attempt in seducing him.

Squall made no move with the smile thrown his way. No women ever seem to match up with Quistis. Their hair was never golden enough, their smiles were never as white and glistening, and their eyes...their eyes were never blue enough, their eyes never spoke to him like Quistis' did with him.

He made no effort to completely erase her out of his mind. He tried; he tried as hard as he could. Yet he would always find himself clutching onto whatever memories were left in his hazy brain. He wondered sometimes, if she ever had gone weeks where she hadn't slept a wink because he was on her mind, if she even thought about him at all, or if she was happy he was supposedly dead.

He wouldn't be surprised if she was thrilled with his death. He would want himself dead if he witness what she had witnessed.

He takes brief sips of the coffee, swirling the bitter taste in his mouth.

"Hey! Aren't you Commander Leonhart?" His dark eyes fall to a young boy with burnished shaggy hair.

Squall languidly nods his head, curious as to how the boy knew him. "Can I get your autograph?" He asks excitedly.

Befuddled, Squall nods. His confusion turns into realization as the youngster pulls out an old newspaper. The man takes it out of the boy's small hands and reads the fine print.

_Squall Leonhart, Commander of Balamb Garden and his fellow SeeDs protect the world from sorceress from the future! _

Below was a group picture of the named heroes and heroines. Zell and Irvine were both in each other's headlocks; Rinoa was kneeling down in the middle with Angelo, Selphie flashing the camera an extraordinary smile. Although they all brought back good memories. The man with brown hair, and a rare smile on his face was his interest or namely the pair of arms that were wrapped around his waist. He was standing to the side with his arms folded across his chest, his face showing no emotion. Quistis had come up to him and unwrapped his folded arms and instead wrapped her own arms around his mid-section and as the camera flashed, Squall couldn't hold the smile that sneakily crept onto his face.

"Um... Commander?" The boy nervously asked, obviously smitten with his hero.

Jumping slightly, he snatched the pen outstretched to him by the boy and carefully signed his name.

The boy's eyes light up like an ember in a fire. "Thanks! I kept this paper so that if I ever met you, you could sign it!" He hopped away joyfully, saying something about showing this to everyone he knew.

Squall felt his lips quirk upwards. Still to this day, he got the occasional recognition from those who followed him throughout his on-going adventure.

He downed the rest of the bitter beverage, deciding that now was as good as any time to start his journey back to Garden. Throwing a few gil onto the table he adjusts the filled duffle bag and pushes out the transparent doors and into the warm early evening. He spots a cab as he rounds a street corner, and he contemplates whether or not he should take the easy ride there.

The brunette decides to go by foot. It would give him time to think, and he really just needed to see everything again. He walks across each street, the glow from the setting sun casting a dark shadow of his figure onto the road. Before he knows it, he makes it to the front gate of the town of Balamb.

"Leaving sir?" The authorized man in blue asked.

He nods his head, buttoning up his uniform collar.

The short chubby man reaches around to his toll booth, playing with the control for a while before the steel gates part. "We hope you enjoyed your stay here in Balamb!" He wishes with so much enthusiasm that he thought his voice would break from the genuine happy vibe.

Squall steps out and he gazes out at the surroundings. The prairies were a deep verdurous green, the less numerous trees peeking out every once in a while. The air smelt fresher, much more vibrate then it had when it was polluted by the man made pollutants. He continues on the grass, hearing a slight crunch under his weight with every step.

He can't help but wonder if she had change since the last time they had seen each other. Was she still the caring, loving protector of everyone? Did she still wear those hairclips in her blonde hair, or had she listened to him and let her hair fall naturally around her beautiful face? Or had she decided to change her entire look?

A hiss brought him out of his daydream and he quickly grabbed his gunblade, and poised it up in battle position as a killer wasp flew at him, needle ready to inflict poison. He stands for a moment unfazed, surprised at how slow the monster was moving towards him. Just as the wasp came in striking distance, the highly trained SeeD gave a single slash with the weapon, giving the redden blade a quick wipe directly after before continuing to the awaiting garden.

_The monsters around here used to give me so much trouble._ He thought. It was that mission, he figured. Every day during that tiresome, incessant mission, he had fought _everyday_ of every minute. The monsters there were associated with high grade technology, making them even more burdensome then the ones found here.

He was isolated during the term of the mission, and had regretted taking on the long term responsibility, but it made him stronger,both physically and mentally. He could easily take out any threat thrown his way, with a few swings of his deadly blade, no one ever dared to step foot with him. He could keep his mind at bay; he felt no regret or guilt when he killed like he did before. His mind was numb, shut out with no insignificant value when it came to killing. Squall went into battle with only killer instincts, and it was enough to get him through his ordeals.

He disposed of the few brave monsters that got in his way. He heard no crunching of grass as his heavy boots hit the earth. Instead he heard clicks as his boots made contact with the hard pavement. With a little anxiety and fear, Squall looks up at the garden staring right back at him. Four long years and he comes face to face with his home. It was still the same as he remembered; a royal sapphire blue coated exterior. Trees were lined up in such an articulate way that he was sure they hired a famous artist to make trees of all things a master piece.

He carefully stalked up the small set of concrete stairs to get a better look of everything. Everyone was gone; probably off to bed as he realized that the sky turned from a violet to a dark, star littered one.

Not in a rush, he slowly moved towards the entrance of the front of the garden. He spotted the reception booth at the front door with the personnel inside who appeared to be sleeping on the job. Deciding not to wake him, he goes through the one way lane with 'in' written in bright ember letters.

Inside the familiar surroundings were a few stranglers sleepily walking to their respective dorms. His grey eyes widen as a senior kid looks curiously at him standing in the entrance of the school. He quickly slides back into the shadows casted by the potted plants. It wouldn't exactly be a good idea to walk around the Garden when the entire school thought he was dead. He didn't need for a kid to go around screaming that he saw a ghost.

He takes a peek and sees that the kid stares for an extra second before shrugging and strolling off. Knowing that he couldn't be seen, he quickly jogs towards the elevator, jumping a larger set of stairs two at a time. He pushes the button impatiently, not wanting to be spotted. Finally the doors slide open and he himself slides in.

He leans on the metal railing as the elevator ascends with conservative flight.

Reaching the top floor, he steps out.

The secretary, who was beginning to pack up her belongings, looks up at him. "May I help you?" She gives a curious look at the man who arrived late in the evening.

He brushes his hands down the front of his suit, suddenly self conscious about his dishevelled appearance. "Yes, I'm here to see headmaster Cid." He says.

The redhead looks at him with a questioning face, nodding slowly and opening large double doors before disappearing inside.

He hears mummers inside and he takes the precious moment to inspect his commander uniform, buttoning up any loose buttons, and brushing away any dirt and wrinkles he had gotten on them on his way here.

The redhead pokes her head out. "What's your name?" She suspiciously directs at him.

The tired brunette stops fiddling with his uniform and her eyes widen as she seemed to take notice of his elite status when he answers. "Squall Leonhart."

She stares at him for few extra seconds, actually wondering if it was _the_ Squall Leonhart, before she nods her head, and disappears back inside the door.

"You can go right on in." She says, once she comes back to greet him.

Squall takes a deep breath, walking towards the pre-open door.

The doors close behind him with a light bang. He stands a few feet away from the doors and he spots the shorter older man staring out the wall sized windows.

Not knowing whether or not the man noticed his presence, Squall takes a look around the spacious office. It was almost exactly the same the last time he been in here. Books ranging from thickness filled the mahogany book shelves; the overly cluttered desk in the back of the room was illuminated by the slight moon light shining through the crystallized windows.

His gaze adverts to the movement of the man in front of the window.

Cid turns around to face Squall and once his aged eyes fall upon him, he happily beams at the young man.

"Squall." He moves away from the moisture coated windows and towards the man in the uniform.

Unexpectedly, the shorter man engulfs the brunette in a warm hug. Squall, although doesn't return the hug, doesn't push away either.

Cid moves away, motioning for Squall to follow him as he sits in the expensive leather chair behind his desk.

Squall follows suit, dropping his duffle bag by the chair, before he himself takes a seat in front of the desk. He feels his tense legs relax from the extensive activities it had endured.

"You're back." He says simply.

Squall raises his brow "Is that okay?"

He gives a wave of his hand "Don't be silly, of course it is." He reaches forward attempting to straighten out his messy desk. "Just expecting you earlier."

He thinks back to where he was earlier. Wandering around, putting off coming back. Squall nods, silently rubbing his knuckles.

"How was your mission?" Cid was interested in the details, with a four year mission under his belt; he must have tons of stories to tell.

The grey eyed man shrugs, "It was fine."

Cid sighs. _He's still the same old Squall. _He thought with amusement. He had feared the commander would change after such a long time away. But he hadn't changed; he was still the straight to the point, anti-sociable leader. It was often that young SeeDs were sent on missions and they came back completely scarred for life. He hadn't expected much change out of Squall though; the man was unfazed by anything that went about around him. He was made of ice, cold bitter arctic ice.

"Have you suffered any serious injuries?" He questions

Squall gives a shake of his head. "I'm fine." He responds.

He painfully wanted to know where the blonde instructor was, but it would cause too much of a suspicion. So instead of singling out the one woman, he keeps quiet. He didn't know if he wanted to ask because he wanted to see her or wanted to know where she was so he could purposely avoid seeing her. When it came to Quistis, he didn't know what he wanted. He was always confused. But he knew one thing. He knew that he was content in her company. Although he didn't know if that would be the same considering the circumstances of his abrupt departure and their destroyed relationship.

"They went out to celebrate." He stated, as if reading the young man's thoughts.

The startled brunette stares at him incredulously, "How'd you..." He trails off, confused by the man's words. _Celebrate?_ He thought. _Celebrate what?_ He transfers his attention to the man as he speaks.

He buttons a loose buckle on his red sleeveless sweater, grinning with knowledge. "Everyone needs people in their life Squall. Even you." He says with brilliance. Even though the man kept any feelings hidden deep within, he unknowingly shows more emotion in his eyes than he did if he spoke.

"You should probably get some rest; it looks like you haven't slept for a while." He comments on Squall's fatigued frame.

Squall wonders if his face showed any signs that he were an insomniac. He furrowed his brows as he remembers Cid wasn't the first person to point out his apparent tiresome face. He nods, reaching down to gather his belongings.

"Your old dorm is already prepared for you," he reaches into a desk drawer and pulls out the key card. "Here it is." He hands the pass to other man's outstretched hand.

"Oh, by the way, I have to ask a favour of you." He says in a low whisper, as if someone was watching them.

Squall sighs, he hadn't even been here a full hour yet and he was given another task. _I guess that comes with accepting commander status._

"What is it?"

"Try to lay low for at least today." Squall quirks a brown brow. Cid explains. "Everyone thinks you died. I don't want to scare the entire school with a ghost." He says laughingly.

The brunette understandingly nods, turning his back and moving towards the door.

"Squall"

He stops and turns to look at the headmaster. "Yeah?"

"It's good to have you back. You were very well missed." He gives a teasing smile.

That brought out a shadow of a grin on his handsome features. "I...I think it'll be good to be back." He pushes out the doors and into the awaiting elevator.

-----

Quistis' head was throbbing. It felt like a jackhammer was going off on the top of her pretty blonde head. She knew it was a bad idea going along with Selphie. That girl was so...demanding, and insistent. Although she didn't force alcohol down her throat, she made her feel horrible for not participating in her made up drinking game. In the end the perky girl had made her drink until she thought she would end up in a coma by the end of the night.

With a giggling Selphie on one side of her, and a snoring Rinoa on the other, the trio waited patiently in the back of the cab. They had gone to Balamb for the little celebration, and while she was there she thought she spotted a man wielding a gunblade heading towards Balamb. She quickly shrugged it off on the intoxicating drinks she had consumed.

She craved nothing but going to her room and passing out on her bed. It was already pass curfew for the students, and too late for her.

The cab came to a gradual halt at the gate of the Garden and Quistis gently shook Rinoa awake, as the still giggling Selphie paid the driver with crumbled Gil.

"That was soooo much fun!" The brunette slurred, once they had reached the lobby of the school.

"I'm sure I'll regret this in the morning, but for right now I'll have to agree." A swaying Rinoa said.

Quistis at the moment was having a hard time staying upright. Giving up on trying staying upright on her own, she places her hand on a nearby wall and uses it for a substitution of her impaired balanced and slightly blurred vision.

"Yeah. Fun." She yawned.

"Someone's sleepily." Selphie slurred before falling on her behind and laughing as loud as possible.

"Alright, I'm going to bring her to bed before she wakes up the entire Garden." Rinoa stumbled over her sentence. "Will you be alright going to your room?"

"I'll be fine." The blonde assured the caring girl.

She rounded a corner, her hand still on the wall, when she saw a silhouette of a man come through the dimly lighted elevator entrance.

She didn't know what drew her to him but there was something so achingly familiar with his stature. So much so that she could feel a distinct, but familiar chill run up and down her spine. She squinted in the darkness trying to rid her blue eyes of the blurriness.

The man takes a cautious look around, as if he didn't want to be seen. He gazed in her direction but didn't seem to take notice of her from her standing in the shadows and the lack of lighting the Garden had in the early hours of the morning.

Quistis on the other hand strained to catch a glimpse of his face. From not wearing her glasses and the effects of drinking, her vision was not the 20/20 it usually was. Although she could tell that he had light brown hair, had some sort of bag over his shoulder, and was in a navy blue uniform.

He started to advance, going down the stairs and towards the dormitories wing.

The blonde quickly unstrapped her heels and abandoned her only temporary form of balance. _What the hell is the matter with me?_ She mentally thought I'm_ stalking a man I don't know...and I don't know why! _She didn't know why. But she knew there was something about him that was magnetic. Something about him that was begging her, pleading her to follow him otherwise she would sincerely regret it.

The world seemed to tilt from side to side with each uncoordinated step she took, but she was too determined to catch the mysterious man to fall in a heap. She tried to say as stealth as she could, not wanting the man to catch her following him. Her bare feet slapped across the cold tiles of the floor and she sped up her pace as she lost sight of him disappearing around a corner.

"Ooooft" She fell straight on her back as she collided with something.

"Quistis?" The voice sounded surprised.

Rubbing her lower back, she looked up "Oh, hey Seymour, what are you doing up?" The blonde slightly slurred.

"Trying to find you." He stated. He looked at her sprawled out form before lifting her up bridal style. "Are you drunk?" He wrinkled his nose as a strong stench of sour alcohol reached his nostrils.

"Maybe." She giggled.

He looked amused. Quistis was never one to get drunk, especially when she had a class early tomorrow morning. He was certain she was going to have one nasty hangover tomorrow morning. "Alright. Let's get you back to bed. "He whispered to her.

He pivoted with her still in his arms to the direction she was just coming from. As he began to walk them to their dorm room, she twisted her neck to see the man at the far end of the hallway, stopping in front of a door, pushing his brown locks out of his eyes before pulling out a key card and slipping inside the room.

If Seymour hadn't found her, she would have marched...or in her current state; stumble right up to that door and demand to know who he was. But she couldn't. Her Fiancé wouldn't be too pleased to know that his wife-to-be was following another man. So she pushed the subject to the back of her drunken mind and once in her dorm, fell into a fitful sleep full of dreams of the mysterious man.

* * *

**I know there is a lot of things unexplained, but thing will become much more clear in the incoming chapters. Seymour will be more defined along with missing details.**


End file.
